


Day Fifteen: "Run, don't look back"

by OBlossom



Series: Febuwhump 2021 [15]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: FebuWhump2021, Found Family, Gun Violence, Hurt/Comfort, IronDad and SpiderSon, Kidnapping, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Peter Parker Whump, Protective Peter Parker, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:14:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29474550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OBlossom/pseuds/OBlossom
Summary: There was something he was supposed to remember—something that made this one different from the other times. He’d been standing outside and... and then the van pulled up? That was all pretty standard, but what else was he supposed to remember?And then, as he racked his brain, the soft sound came from behind him.“Peter-peter-bo-beeter-banana-fana-fo-feeter, me-mi-mo-meeter, Pee-ter.”Peter chuckled low, Ned and that stupid song. He’d sing it every day on the school bus back when... wait?Peter’s eyes flew open. “Ned!”The singing stopped, “Peter? Are you awake? Oh, please-please-pleeeez be awake!” Ned was moving behind Peter, probably bound the same way as Peter. He kept going, “Peter, you never told me being kidnapped was so boring and my butt’s asleep and oh, my gosh, I have to pee so bad!”Oh, no.
Relationships: Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Febuwhump 2021 [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138958
Comments: 5
Kudos: 158
Collections: febuwhump 2021





	Day Fifteen: "Run, don't look back"

**Author's Note:**

> Here you go, my fan fiction friends!
> 
> -Colleen xo
> 
> *And just as a note, there is some issue with formatting that I can't figure out. I really do know how to put spaces between paragraphs! I promise!

Day 15: “run, don’t look back”

Coming to after being drugged was always an experience, but none had ever been like this.

The feel of the wooden chair was familiar, as was the feel of metal on his wrists bound behind him. He pulled in a deep breath, trying to clear his head. He could still feel his Starkwatch on his wrist, which Peter and Mr. Stark had retrofitted with a tracker and emergency webshooter, so that was good. All of this together meant this was a Mr. Stark thing and they were amateurs, giving Peter the advantage. 

But... there was something he was supposed to remember—something that made this one different from the other times. He’d been standing outside and... and then the van pulled up? That was all pretty standard, but what else was he supposed to remember?

And then, as he racked his brain, the soft sound came from behind him.

“Peter-peter-bo-beeter-banana-fana-fo-feeter, me-mi-mo-meeter, Pee-ter.”

Peter chuckled low, Ned and that stupid song. He’d sing it every day on the school bus back when... wait?

Peter’s eyes flew open. “Ned!”

The singing stopped, “Peter? Are you awake? Oh, please-please-pleeeez be awake!” Ned was moving behind Peter, probably bound the same way as Peter. He kept going, “Peter, you never told me being kidnapped was so boring and my butt’s asleep and oh, my gosh, I have to pee so bad!” 

Oh, no. Peter definitely wasn’t with it enough to process all of that, so he interrupted Ned before he completely lost the plot. “Ned, just gimme a sec.” Peter dropped his head to his chest and centered himself as much as he could. He wished he could close his eyes again to take a nap but he didn’t have that luxury. The drugs were already clearing his system, Peter knew, it just helped to wake up fresh. 

Ugh.

Ned had seemed to calm himself during Peter’s pause. “Um, Peter, are you okay?”

Peter was nodding before he’d even opened his mouth, still feeling a little disconnected. “Yeah, just coming off of whatever they gave me.” Peter thought for a second, then asked, “How are you okay? Shouldn’t you still be out?”

Ned shifted behind him. “I was never knocked out,” he answered. “I don’t think they planned to grab anyone other than you, ‘cuz they only had the one syringe and then I came out of the game store and saw them and yelled and they totally freaked out, man. It was awesome!” Ned stopped talking.

Peter waited for him to jump in with some more tidbits, but it seemed that Ned’s enthusiasm had run out. “Ned? You didn’t answer. Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Ned definitely sounded subdued. “I might have a bruise or two from when they tossed me in the van, but I listened so they pretty much left me alone.” He stopped talking for a minute but then started up again, “And so you know, I’m totally not worried, ‘cuz, duh! I’m with Spider-Man right now and Iron Man will be showing up sometime soon to kick ass, and that will be totally amazing, so don’t worry about that, but...” Ned sounded like he was really thinking about things.

“Ned?”

“I’m telling you this, Pete, ‘cuz you’re like my brother and you won’t judge me. I’m worried that my mom will be freaking out ‘cuz we didn’t make it back to the apartment when we said we would. You know that my dad just had the heart attack and she’s already so stressed about everything...” Peter felt Ned shrug in his chair. “That’s all it is, you know? I’ve just been stuck in my head a bit while you were out.” 

They both got quiet then. 

“Yeah.” Peter thought about Mr. And Mrs. Leeds, who were like an extra set of parents to him. He could honestly say that he loved them, and would do anything to get Ned home to them. Dude was his ‘Guy in the Chair,’ after all, and he needed to get him back... which meant it was time to get to work. “Ned, it’s time to focus. Mr. Stark’s gotta be tracking me by now, but I’m not gonna wait for Mr. Stark unless we need to, got it?” 

“Got it,” Ned replied. “What do you need from me?”

Peter looked around the room. Of course they’d be trapped in a cement room in a warehouse somewhere—villains were so cliché sometimes. He took in the layout, and of course they put the two of them in a room with a window. Yes, it was one of those super high, almost a skylight but it was in the wall type of windows, but he was Spider-Man, and he was gonna get crap done.

“Okay, Ned.” Peter was feeling invigorated at the chance to get out. “I’ve got a plan, and it’s super complicated. Ready?”

Ned nodded emphatically behind him. “Ready.”

“Alright, I’m gonna climb that wall there and break the window—“

“Okay?” 

“And then, I’m gonna carry you up that wall—“ 

“Okay?”

“And then we’re gonna go out the window—“

“Okay? And...?”

“And then we’re gonna drop to the ground and run like hell. Got it?”

There was a beat of silence, and then—

Ned snorted, “You, Mr. Parker, are such an asshole. Do your fans know this about you?”

Peter grinned big even though Ned couldn’t see it. “It’s a secret. Only the bad guys know... and you, but you’re my ‘Guy in the Chair’ so you’re obligated by the Superhero Code to keep it a secret.” 

Ned took a breath, preparing to clap back when Peter heard footsteps coming down the hall and hissed, “Someone’s coming!” 

Neither of them needed super hearing to catch what the bad guys were discussing as they walked down the hallway.

“... and what the hell did he expect me to do?! The kid saw my face and if he’s smart like Stark’s intern, he’d have for sure been able to help track us down. I don’t care how much money he promised us. Tony Stark was never supposed to know who we are!”

A second voice responded, “Look, the Boss just wants us to take care of it. It’s no skin off my nose if you want me to do it, but you’d better help me clean up the mess after, is all I’m sayin.’ I don’t want blood in my trunk again.”

“I didn’t sign up for killing a kid,” the first spoke again. “I don’t wanna—“

“I don’t care what you wanna! I’m not going to jail for this, and neither are you. The extra has to go. Now are you gonna help me out or what?!”

The boys even heard the huff of annoyance as the men continued past their door. “Fine. I don’t like this though.” They were getting quieter, “I’m gonna go grab a tarp from the van...”

The voices faded in the distance. 

Ned’s breathing picked up. 

“Hey, Ned,” Peter pulled his hands apart, shattering the standard handcuffs. He shoved his chair away so he could to the same to Ned’s. “C’mon. We’re getting out of here.”

Ned, distracted from his imminent doom, gaped, “Why didn’t you do that before?”

Peter was already climbing up the wall to the window, “First rule of kidnapping, Ned, never show your hand—assuming you have one.” 

“Who came up with that rule?” Ned called up to him.

Peter barely spared him a glance as he answered, “Natasha, man. Who else would be so bad ass?” 

Peter shifted his focus then. The window was definitely made of safety glass, super old and had that thin wire mesh running through it. 

Shit. It was going to hurt.

It didn’t matter though. Peter starting banging at the glass, first with his elbow, and then with his fist as the window gave way. He ignored the blood and broken bones.

“Peter!” Ned called up, “I think they’re coming!”

Peter didn’t stop. If Ned heard them, then that meant they could hear the commotion he was making. With one last strike, the hole was big enough but all of those shards could be a problem— and then he took a quick look outside, muttered a “Shit,” and dropped to the floor.

Ned rushed up to him. 

Peter grabbed him and tossed him over his shoulder. He explained quickly as he crawled. “Okay, change of plans. We’re on the third floor. The glass sucked and I’m going to lower you to the ground then follow you out so you don’t get sliced, got it?”

“What—?” Ned started to ask but they’d reached their destination. Glass and small gauge wire provided for a literal minefield of pain if Peter didn’t maneuver Ned through it right.

He didn’t have time to worry about it as Peter literally tossed Ned through the hole, with not a scratch for the effort, he hoped. Ned’s second and a half of free fall was potentially a bit emotionally damaging, but he could unpack that with him later. Peter shot out a line of webbing and catching Ned at the shoulder. With a jerk, he’d caught Ned and was lowering him to the ground.

The door behind him crashed open. “What the hell?!”

Peter looked back over his shoulder as the men rushed toward the wall, then lowered Ned as quickly as he could. “Ned!” Peter heard the cocking of a gun, “Run! Don’t look back!” He released the webbing, and saw Ned drop a few feet to the ground, “GO!” He screamed, as the gun went off and Peter dropped back to the floor of their prison, his arm, hand, and now leg bleeding all over the concrete.

“What did you do?!” The man holding the literal smoking gun demanded. He’d moved to Peter and stood over him. A part of Peter wanted to snark, his adrenaline high as he tried to pull himself up. The other part of him was struggling to not cry out in pain—In the end, he stayed quiet. 

His partner stood staring at the scene from by the door, clutching a painter’s tarp in his arms. “Well, this isn’t good.”

Peter laughed at the understatement, which apparently did not impress ‘gun man,’ who promptly delivered a steel-toed kick to his gut before stomping off the deal with the issue at hand. Gun Man raged at Tarp Man by the door while Peter tried to figure out how to inhale. “What the hell are you standing there for?! Go get the kid!”

Tarp Man dropped the tarp and ran down the hall and Peter prayed that Ned would get far enough away to be safe. His only comfort was that Peter had been left with the one willing to murder.

Gun Man kicked him again, in the chest this time. Peter was sure that a rib or two had broken that time, which must have been the goal because Gun Man nudged at his bleeding leg in disgust and walked away.

And Peter kept trying to breathe.

Peter must have blacked out for a few minutes. When he came to, Tarp Man was back with them, looking winded—but most important, he was empty handed. 

Their argument had definitely gone up a notch.

“—look, the boss doesn’t need to know! The kid is gone and that’s all that matters, right?”

Gun Man was not pleased, “You idiot! I’m not goin’ down for this! I only took the job ‘cuz you said it was easy money and no one would know.” He pulled his gun out and aimed. “You’ve fucked me over for the last time, man.”

Tarp Man was quick on the draw. His gun was out and pointed at his partner. “Look! I was lied to, too, man! No one needs to know nothin’— We can just grab the girls and go to Mexico!”

Gun Man cocked his gun.

What was Peter even seeing?

“I said I wasn’t goin’ back to jail. You screwed up, and you screwed me over! There’s no walkin’ away from this, asshole!” With those words, Gun Man shot Tarp Man point blank in the chest—the conversation was officially over.

Peter blinked in disbelief. 

Gun Man took a few heaving breaths, like he’d run a marathon and then cocked his gun again. He turned to face Peter, then saw that he was awake. He grinned; looking truly evil now that there was no need to wear a mask, with his partner was gone. “This would have been so much simpler if that kid had just stayed in the store, huh?”

Peter coughed. He wouldn’t stand for Ned to be disrespected, even in his own last moment. “He’s not a kid, dickhead. He’s my ‘Guy in the Chair.’”

The man laughed, “I don’t give a fuck who he is.” He raised his weapon, aimed, and then—His eyes widened as the bullet ripped out of his chest.

Peter’s eyes widened as Gun Man fell forward, dead. 

Peter scanned the room, trying to find the next threat when he caught sight of Tarp Man, still on the ground where he had fallen, his own gun now smoking as it clattered to the ground. He looked Peter in the eye and nodded once and with that last act of redemption, died. 

Peter wished that he could fade away into unconsciousness—anyway he could manage. The whole thing was too much. 

He tried dragging himself to the doorway, but the pain of his broken ribs was sufficient that he gave up, so he simply turned away from the carnage and waited...

... and waited, until finally the blood loss was enough that he simply floated away.

* * * * * *

The nasal cannula was all the hint he needed to know where he was. He forced himself to open his eyes. 

“Kid?”

Peter turned his head and saw Tony standing up from the chair that, from how rumpled he looked, he must have been sitting in for a while.

He smiled sleepily at his mentor. “Hi, Mr. Stark.” 

Mr. Stark smiled back. “Hey, kid. How are you feeling?”

He nodded slowly, “I’m good.” He thought for a second. “And Ned, he’s good, too, right?”

Mr. Stark smiled again. “Ted is fine, Pete, and I’m glad you’re okay. That means the drugs are working.”

“Urgh.” Peter hated it when he needed the painkillers, and hated it more when he teased Ned. “You know he’s not Ted... c’mon. Be nice.”

Mr. Stark did that doey-eyed thing, like he was gonna make another excuse to be a jerk to Ned forever when, “Alright, he’s had a rough day, so I’ll stop.”

He laughed when Mr. Stark said it, and winced for the pain in his ribs for it. Yeah, Peter was sceptical and said as much, “That’s too easy, Mr. Stark.” He squinted up at him, looking for signs of deception, but finding none, he confirmed one last time, “Really?”

Tony nodded and turned to sit back in his seat. “Yeah, really.”

Peter thought about that for a minute and then nodded back, “Okay.”

With that resolved, Peter thought heading back to sleep would be a great idea. More rest meant faster healing, and Peter was over the ribs, like, a million years ago. The problem was that being asleep was different from being unconscious and when Peter closed his eyes, all he saw was them... and if he hadn’t gotten Ned out, or if he’d dropped Ned from too high, or if he’d been shot, or if the man with the tarp had decided that killing Ned sounded better than Mexico.

A tear fell down his cheek.

“Peter?”

He turned his head towards Mr. Stark and purged. “I was so afraid I wouldn’t get Ned out, Mr. Stark, and now I keep seeing what could’ve...” he couldn’t speak for the horror. “If he’d died, it would’ve been my—”

Tony stood up again and took Peter’s hand in his. “Peter, you listen to me. That kid was born to be your, what do you call him? Oh yeah, ‘Guy in the Chair.’” He squeezed his hand, tried to center him, and smiled. “He’s your ‘ride or die,’ my friend. You’ve found your very own Rhodey! And you are so lucky.”

Peter nodded again in agreement. He knew that. They were brothers, after all.

Tony laughed. “You know what the kid did?”

Peter shook his head ‘no’ and wiped some tears away.

“When Rhodey and I got there, for some reason we could only pinpoint the area—must’ve been something in a nearby warehouse, but whatever.” Tony waved off the train of thought. “We were about to start a search of everything that could be your location, but Ned steps out an alley and calls us over, so we go. He points to the right building—even the window we need to go in, and then, juuuust as I’m about to fly off, he offers to help me with recalibrating my tech when we were all done.” 

It was Peter’s turn to laugh. “Yeah, that sounds like Ned.”

Tony brushed Peter’s hair away from his face, “The point I’m making, Pete, is that this isn’t someone who’s gonna leave you at the first sign of trouble. And maybe, you should give him a little credit. He’s a smart kid. He can figure out where he’s supposed to be.”

“Yeah, he is.”

A knock sounded at the medbay door and Peter turned to see Ned standing, holding a foil tray of—“Dude! Did your mom make me pancit!”

Ned beamed, “Of course, she did! You know the rules, if you’re barfing, it’s tinola. Anything else is pancit because ‘it’s Peter’s favourite!’” Ned mimicked his mom.

“Of course! Because she loves me more!”

Tony chuckled and moved to the bed controls to help Peter sit up. “Do I need to go grab some plates for you guys?”

Reaching into his jacket pocket, Ned pulled out a handful of plastic forks, then handed one to Peter. “Mr. Stark, this pancit does not wait for plates.” He spoke with such solemnity that anyone who heard him would be a believer.

“Alright then, I’ll leave you gentlemen to it. Ned, get FRIDAY to tell me when you’re leaving so I can come back, okay?” 

“Well,” Now Ned looked bashful, “I actually brought you a fork, too, sir.” He thrust it out toward him. “I figured we could maybe talk about my internship?”

Peter’s eyes widened, and he turned to stare at his mentor, “You’re giving Ned an internship?!"

Mr. Stark snickered as he reached over to pluck Peter’s fork from his hand, “Of course I am! The kid’s gonna help me tweak my tech! And maybe we’ll throw in a little extra for good measure! Rhodey’s in town for a while so I figured we should get them together, yeah?” He gave Pete a wink. 

Peter understood what Mr. Stark was doing, even if Ned didn’t yet. 

Mr. Stark would do what he could to make sure that Ned would be safe... 

And Ned would be the best Guy in the Chair EVER.

**Author's Note:**

> Day fifteen- 
> 
> More than halfway!
> 
> Zoinks!


End file.
